1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a structure which can be used in reactions wherein the reaction and distillation of the reaction system are carried out concurrently using the structure as both catalyst for the reaction and as a distillation structure. More particularly the invention relates to a catalytic distillation structure capable of carrying out more than one reaction.
2. Related Art
In one method of carrying out catalytic reactions the components of the reaction system are concurrently separable by distillation, using the catalyst structures as the distillation structures. This method is now generally known as catalytic distillation and any reference to catalytic distillation herein will be taken to mean this method or process. Such systems are described variously in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,215,011; 4,232,177; 4,242,530; 4,302,356; 4,307,254; 4,336,407; 4,439,350; 4,447,668; 4,482,775 and 4,849,569.
U.S. Patent Nos. 4,250,052; 4,443,559; 5,266,546; 5,348,710 and 5,431,890 disclose a variety of catalyst structures for this use. European Pat. No. 0396650 discloses a catalytic distillation structure comprising semirigid mesh like walls containing catalyst material and formed into channels which are layered together such that the flow of the channels cross. U.S. Pat. No. 4,731,229 discloses a similar packing. Other distillation packings are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,455,339; 4,497,751; 4,497,752; 4,744,928 and 4,497,735 and UK patents 1,471,442; 1,569,828 and 1,186,647.
The use of multipurpose beds of different catalysts used in catalytic distillation reactions is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,950,834 and 5,321,163.